Voice producing mechanism



Oct. 3, 1939. A. PETROV VOICE PRODUCING MECHANISI Filed April 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IINVENTOR. 2 652 0.

BY d? X z ATTORNEY.

Oct. 3, 1939. A; PETROV 2,174,594

VOICE PRODUCING MECHANI SI Filed April 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VOICE. PRODUCING MECHANISM Application April 25, 1938, Serial No. 204,125.

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a new and useful voice, or sound producing means in phonetic simulation of two syllable words to be used with dolls, similar or other toys, and, it has for its primary object, in a manner as hereinafter set forth, a structure of the character comprising a novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts through the medium of which two syllable words are pronunced with the sec-- ond syllable being drawn out longer than the first syllable as the word is articulated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sound producing device having an oscillating arcuately movable air expelling member disposed between two bellows and serving as the inner wall of two bellows.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a sound producing device which will be simple in construction, strong, durable, highly eflicient and reliable in use, compact and which may be manufactured at a low cost.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a study of the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my sound producing device. The dotted lines show the device in two tilted positions.

Fig. 2 is a view partly in section and partly in front elevation of the device embodying my invention, one bellows being deflated and the other inflated.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2, but tilted in the other direction and showing one bellows deflated and the other inflated.

Fig. 4 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of the device.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the air expelling member.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the air expelling member with the valve removed.

Fig. 7 is a sectional View of the air expelling member taken on line 'I'I of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a view of the air expelling member, partly in front elevation and partly in sectional elevation.

Fig. 9 is a small perspective View of the casing.

In carrying out the invention, I employ a suitable casing designated, generally as I, and having a plurality of openings 2 in one of the walls thereof, designated 3, and serving both as sound outlet openings and air inlet openings.

The wall 3 is removably connected with the re mainder of the casing and it constitutes the front wall thereof. The side walls 4 and 5 of the casing diverge upwardly so that the casing in front and. rear elevations is substantially V- shaped in formation.

The front wall 3 of the casing is provided below the openings 2, with a plurality of inwardly projecting protuberances designated 6, I and 8. These protuberance's 6, I and 8 are spaced a suitable distance apart from each other, and the outer protuberances 6 and 8 are long relative to the intermediate protuberance I, which latter protuberance is substantially dome shaped. The protuberances 6, I and 8 lie in a substantially arcuately shaped line, as clearly shown in the drawings.

As clearly shown in the drawings, there is con tained in the casing I, a pair of bellows designated 9 and I0, and, an arcuately movable air expelling member designated generally, as II. The member II serves also as a wall, or partition between the inner ends of the two bellows.

The air expelling member I I is pivoted, as at I2, at its narrow or lower end, to the lower or narrow end of the casing I, so as to be capable of arcuate movement when oscillated by tilting the sound producing device sideways. expelling member II includes two parts designated I3 and I4. The lower part I3 is formed of lighter material than the upper part I4. The latter part I 4 is heavier in weight than part I3, and preferably formed of lead, or like heavy material to render the air expelling member II top heavy, while part I3 is formed of wood, or other suitable material. The two parts are suitably joined together, as at I5, to form a unit of the parts. Theunit serves in the capacities of an air expelling member and a wall, or partition between the two bellows, and, as a carrier for suitable sound producing members, valve members for controlling sounds produced, and serves as means in which air inlets to the bellows, air outlets from the bellows, and sound emitting passages are formed, as hereinafter more fully described.

The bellows 9 and II) are suitably secured at their inner ends to the air expelling member, and, are suitably secured at their outer ends to the inclined side walls of the casing I.

The reference character I6 designates an air inlet passage leading from the front wall of part I3 of the air expelling member to a transverse air inlet I I a suitable distance back from the front wall of part I3 of the air expelling mem- The air- :tion 28.

I over protuberance 1.

her. One end of the transverse air inlet I! is open to the side face l8 of part I3 of the air expelling member so as to communicate with the interior of the bellows 9 when the bellows 9 is being inflated, and, the opposite end of the transverse air inlet I1 is open to the opposite side face IQ of part l3 of the air expelling member so as to communicate with the interior of the bellows 13 when the bellows I3 is being inflated. One end of the transverse air inlet IT is closed by means of a suitable flap valve designated 20, and the opposite end of the transverse air inlet I1 is closed by means of a suitable flap valve 2!. Valve 20 is closed by air pressure thereagainst when expelling air from bellows 9, and, valveZl is closed by air pressure thereagainst when ex.-

pelling air from bellows I3. Valve 25 is opened 1 when inflating bellows 9, and valve 2! is opened when inflating bellows I0. When valve 20 is opened, valve 2| is closed, and vice versa. The valves 20 and 2i are made from suitable flexible paper, or like stock, adhesively, or otherwise suitably secured at one end to the side faces l8 and I9, respectively, of part 53 of the air expelling member.

The reference characters 22 and 23 designate upwardly inclined or other suitable facial air outlets for the bellows 9 and i3, respectively, and, they are formed on opposite side faces of both parts l3 and E4 of the air expelling member ll.

Air outlet 22 communicates at its inner end with the rear end of a sound emitting passage 24 which runs longitudinally of the part M of the air expelling member i I, and, it is open at its forward end to the front face thereof, and, the front face of the part [4 of the air expelling member is provided with a shallow facial sound relief recess, or channel 25 leading from the edge of the mouth of the sound passage 24 to the adjacent edge of part E4 of the air expelling member. A suitable sound producing device, such as a reed 26, is positioned at the rear of the sound emitting passage 24 for producing the sounds to be transmitted and emitted from the front end of the passage 24.

A suitable valve member 21 cooperates with the front or outlet end of the sound emitting passage 24, and, it is provided with a handle like projec- The valve member 21 and its handle '28 is mounted for rocking movement on a suitable pivot pin 23 supported by the bearings 39. The valve is automatically closed by. a suitable spring 3|. The valve handle 28 is depressed by the movement thereof over the cover plate protuberances 6 and l to cause the valve member 21 to uncover the outlet end of the sound emitting passage 24. The valve member 2 controls the sound emitted from passage 24 to effect the articulation of a two syllable word so as to produce the pronunciation of a word such, for instance, as ma-ma. The slight relief of air pressure at the very outlet end of the sound outlet passing through the relief recess 25 causes the word ma-ma to be clearly pronounced asthe valve 21 is lifted from the end face of the passage 24. The protuberance 6 being longer than the protuberance l, which latter protuberance is spaced by the gap 32 from protuberance 3, causes the second syllable of the two like syllable word ma-ma to be drawn out or sounded longer than the first syllable thereof, due to the fact that it takes longer for the handle 28 of valve 2'! to pass over the protuberance 6 than When the handle 28.0f the valve 21 rides off of the protuberance 6, it

is allowed to elevate by means of the spring 3|, in the gap 32 between the two protuberances and 1, thus closing the valve 21 against the outlet end face of the sound passage 24 and causing a slight period of silence between the sounding of the first and last syllables of the two syllable word pronounced, which in one embodiment of the invention is a word in simulation of the voice of a baby or child, such, for instance, as r n Air outlet 23 communicates at its end with the rear end of a sound outlet passage 33 which runs longitudinally of the heavy end, or part M of the air expelling member H, and, it is open at its forward end to the front face of part [4.

An air, or sound bleeding vent, or opening, small in diameter relative to the sound passage 33 is disposed a suitable distance back from the front face of part 14 of the air expelling member I I, and preferably, although not necessarily connects the sound outlet passage with the interior of the bellows II]. A suitable sound producing device such, for instance, as a suitable reed 34, is positioned at the rear end of the sound emitting passage 33 for producing the sounds to be transmitted and emitted from the front end of said passage 33.

A suitable valve member 35 cooperates with the front or sound emitting end of the passage 33, and, it closes and opens said end of the passage, and the valve 35 is provided with a suitable handle 36. The valve member 35 and its handle 36 is mounted for rocking movement on the pivot pin 29 journaledin the bearings 30. The valve is automatically closed by a suitable spring 31. The valve handle 36 is depressed by movement thereof over the cover plate protuberances l and 8 to cause the valve member 35 to uncover the outlet or sound emitting end of the sound transmission passage 33. The valve member 35 controls the sound emitted from passage 33 to effect the articulation of a two syllable word so as to produce the pronunciation of a word such, for instance, as pa-pa. The slight relief of pressure into the bellows ill in advance of the outlet end of the passage 33 causes the word pa-pa to be clearly pronounced as the valve member 35 is lifted, closed and again lifted with respect to the outlet end face of the sound passage 33 by the action of its handle 36. The action of the valve member 35 causes the first syllable of the word to be short, and the second syllable of the word to be drawn out, due to the different dimensions of the cover plate protuberances 1 and 8. The gap 38 between the protuberances l and 3 permits the valve handle 35 to be elevated by the spring 37 for closing the valve 35 between the invention will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

From the foregoing description, it is evident that a simple device for this purpose has been disclosed, but it is to be understood that I do not. desire to restrict, or limit myself to the very details of the construction shown and described, which is merely illustrative, it being obvious that changes, not involving the exercise of invention, may be made without conflicting or departing from the spirit of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, a hollow casing having its front wall provided with a series of spaced sound outlet and air inlet openings, a pair of bellows, a single oscillating arcuately movable air expelling member serving as the inner wall of both bellows, sound producing means in the single air expelling member, a pair of rocker valves, handles on the valves, and means projecting inwardly from the apertured wall of the casing to effect rocking movement of the valves during lateral tilting movements of the device to produce two, two syllable words.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the last syllable of each word is drawn out over a longer period of time than the first syllable thereof.

3. In an articulative sound producing device comprising a hollow casing having an apertured wall, a pair of bellows in the casing, an air expelling member mounted for oscillating movement in an arcuate path and serving as the inner ends of the two bellows, voice producing means in the air expelling member, and means for articulating the sounds produced to simulate two syllable words with the last syllable of each word drawn out longer than the first syllable thereof.

4. A voice mechanism comprising a casing having diverging side walls and havingsound openings in the front wall thereof, an arcuately movable member pivoted at its lower end to the casing, sound producing members carried within passages in the upper end of said member, and means carried by the member and actuated by means of the front wall of the casing when the member is oscillated to produce pa-pa and "ma-ma syllables dependent upon the direction of movement of the arcuately movable member.

5. A voice mechanism comprising an apertured casing, a pair of upstanding V-shaped bellows therein, and means separating the bellows for expanding and expelling air from the bellows upon oscillating arcuate movement of said means.

6. A voice mechanism comprising an apertured casing, a pair of upstanding V-shaped bellows therein, means separating the bellows for expanding and expelling air from the bellows upon oscillating arcuate movement of said means, sound producing means carried by said means, and means carried by said means and actuated by means on the casing to control the emission of the sound produced by the sound producing means to articulate the sound emitted and pronounce alternately the words pa-pa" and "ma-ma.

'7. A device as defined in claim 6 wherein said sound control means is so formed as to prolong the second syllable of each word pronounced over that of the first syllable pronounced.

8. A sound producing device in phonetic simulation of two, two syllable words comprising a casing having openings in one wall thereof and serving as both sound outlet and air inlet openings, a pair of bellows within the casing, a top heavy air expelling member separating the bellows and arcuately movable within the casing to expel air alternately from the bellows, sound producing means carried by the arcuately movable air expelling member and articulated valves for causing the pronunciation of a two syllable word as air is expelled from each bellows with the last syllable of each word pronounced being drawn out longer than the first syllable and there being two different words pronounced alternately by sidewise movements of the sound producing device.

ARTHUR PETROV. 

